Tag Archives: Celebration of Life

50 for 50 #12 – Sound of Music

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The Sound of Music (film)

The Sound of Music (film) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I got the chance to visit Austria the summer of 1983 with the BYU women’s volleyball team. So for this week’s 50 for 50 to celebrate my 50th birthday, I checked out The Sound of Music from our local library. The library has an amazing collection of videos that we enjoy. It has been many, many years since I watched The Sound of Music.

I enjoyed the scenery and the story but most of all I love the music. I couldn’t help but sing along with most of the songs. I remember songs better than most things and I love to sing. Growing up the records I remember most were from musicals. I would play them over and over and sing along.  It was kind of late Sunday night when we started the movie so we had to stop at the intermission and finish it tonight.

I found out at Christmas that The Sound of Music of music is my mom’s favorite movie, so I’ll keep this so she can watch it when they come over for a visit this week.

50 for 50 #11 – Finding a Windmill

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Bill and the wind generators near the Jordan River Narrows

Today after church I packed up a lunch and we drove to the Jordan River Narrows to see how close we could get to the wind generators there. I wanted to visit a windmill in honor of the time I spent in Holland with the National Volleyball Team back in 1985 on a tour of Europe. We discovered that the road that got close we couldn’t access but the Jordan River Trail went just down the slope from two of them right next to what remains of a third wind generator. It was cool being so close and I could feel the amazing powder of those huge blades. These wind generators are not much like the windmill in Holland. But it was a lovely walk with sunshine and about 60 degrees with a brisk south wind that kept the blades turning at a steady rate.

wind generators near the Jordan River Narrows

 

50 for 50 #10 – Izze Soda

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We have developed a tradition over the last several years with Izze natural soda. On special days we drink a bottle of Izze to mark the occasion. I was first attracted to Izze when a was faithfully avoiding all refined sugar. Izze is fruit juice and sparkling water, no added sugar. Today we each enjoyed a bottle of Izze Sparkling Clementine to celebrate Waffle’s 1st birthday. We got to see her and Claraliz on Saturday but we wanted to do something extra today to mark her birthday. I love Izze’s fruit flavors and I enjoy their colorful bottles and I save the bottle caps with their fun design.

50 for 50 #9 – Grow Something New

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My Pot of Hyacinths

This project actually started last year when I helped clean out the flower beds of their spring bulbs at the Jordan River Temple. Instead of planting the few hyacinth bulbs in my yard, I put them in a beautiful periwinkle pot that my sister gave me many years ago. I kept the pot in the garage until the first week of February. When I brought it inside it didn’t take long  for the first shoots of green to start coming up. It has been so much fun to watch them grow. One bulb was really slow coming up and I gave up on it but even it came up eventually. Then the first of the pink blossoms started to show. I have so enjoyed having a fresh breath of spring at the end of winter. Now I want to force bulbs every year and maybe even find more pots so I can do extra to share with others too.

straggler bulb finally coming up

50 for 50 #8 – 2002 Winter Olympics

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Raelyn and Yakira

The Gateway

Today we went to the Gateway in downtown Salt Lake City. They was a party for the 10th anniversary of the 2002 Winter Olympics. We didn’t go to any sporting events 10 years ago but we say the torch as it passed a couple of blocks from our home in Provo and we made the trek up to see the Olympic cauldron after it was lit. We also enjoyed the ice sculpture contest and the Dale Chihuly exhibit. We (Bill, Yakira & I) rode Trax in and walked around to see what was going on at the Gateway and took some photos. Then we wandered around the Clark Planetarium and finally had lunch at Rumbi. After we got back to Sandy we stopped at Costco to get some groceries. It was a fun and relaxing kind of day though all three of us where very tired by the time we got home, including Yakira. She was a very good pup and handled all the people and situations with ease.

50 for 50 #6 – Provo

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While I was in Provo this week I thought it would be a goo time to go by all the places I lived during my many years there. Besides the years I went to school at BYU, there were also the years while Bill went to BYU plus we lived there for several more years after he graduated. I was able to remember where all of them were except one. It was one that had been torn down. There were two corners that were possibles so I had to look up the address and then go back again.
Of the ten places I lived in Provo, three of them have been torn down. One, “The Red Uglies” was torn down while I still lived in the area. I took a bunch of pictures of it at the time. It was kind of a special place because my mom had lived there too, when she was going to BYU. Another place “The Brick Oven”, an old apartment building, was the second place we lived after we got married. One of our neighbors was Tag Romney and his wife. They lived there because his parents had lived there when Tag was born. Funny that his dad, Mitt is now running for President of the United States. It is kind of a small world.

The Elms - the first place I lived in Provo in 1980 - 29 East 700 North

 

Taylor Apartments - 25 East 900 North #5

 

78 East 700 North - where the Red Uglies once stood

 

50 East 600 North - I lived one summer in the attic of an old house that once stood here

 

331 North 100 East

 

584 North 300 East - I lived in the house that was here

 

Willowbrook Condos - 1790 Willowbrook

 

50 East 900 North - this is the first place we lived after Bill and I got married.
We entered in through what was the garage then most of the apartment was in the basement.

 

"Brick Oven" - 511 North 100 West #4 & #2

 

210 South 600 West - This is the first home we bought.
It was built in 1864 for the youngest wife of a Squire Whipple who was in the same pioneer company as Brigham Young.

50 for 50 #5 – Sugar, Sugar

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Sugar, Sugar

Sugar, Sugar (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I remember the song “Sugar, Sugar” (1969 – Archies) from when we lived in Ogden. The main memory that comes to mind is the record of the song that came on the back of a cereal box. This was the only record we got this way and I all the other records in the house were my parents, not us kid’s. Well we played it over and over so much that my mom helped the record into the garbage can. The other memory is having the radio on and some one saying something about sugar, sugar and then the song “Sugar, Sugar” came on the radio. My memory says it was the first time I had heard the song and I thought it was so funny to say the words and then have a song with those words come on the radio.
So to celebrate my 50th year I got on the internet on Monday and found a recording of the song “Sugar, Sugar” and listened to it a few times. The really cool thing is that on Friday I was eating lunch in Hagerman’s Bakehouse Cafe in downtown Salt Lake when what to my surprise “Sugar, Sugar” comes on over the speaker system. I don’t know when the last time I heard it on the radio but it was a sweet little serendipity for my 50 for 50.

50 for 50 #4 – Feeding Willow

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Feeding Willow Carrots

Today I took some carrots with me and fed them to my niece’s horse, Willow. Will could smell the carrots and came over to the fence and was waiting for them. She was a good girl and took them very gently. I picked this as one of my 50 for 50 things in honor of the horses that lived in the pasture behind our house in Ogden. Sometime we would feed them carrots through a hole in our wooden fence. There was also a beautiful old barn with a the classic “barn” roof line. When I imagine the prefect place to live, I dream of a view out one of my windows with a pasture with horses and a similar barn. Maybe that all stems back to the years we lived with a horse pasture behind us. This pasture and barn are long gone, being replace with modern developments.

50 for 50 #3 – Peanuts

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This week I went to the library and checked out a Peanuts book. I thought there would be more to choose from but it seems the Peanuts are now “classic.” Does that make me a classic too? I checked out “You’ve Come A Long Way, Charlie Brown.” I have one specific memory of a Peanuts Cookbook that we got from the library while we were living in Seattle. We tried to make some lemon suckers but we burned them and they tasted awful. We decided to go around the neighborhood and entice other kids to eat our suckers by pretending that they tasted good.
I really enjoyed reading “You’ve Come A Long Way, Charlie Brown.” Snoopy is my favorite. But I am most struck by the creativity of Charles Schulz in the sheer volume of work he did with Peanuts and his insight into their world.

Two Wonderful Yet Event Filled Years

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Sue and Apex from our trip to Florida – January 2011

Today marks two years since Apex met his handler at Guide Dogs for the Blind in Boring, Oregon. Sue sent out the following email about her life so far with Apex.

Today marks a wonderful milestone in my lifethat I wanted to share with you all.  2 years ago last week I received acall giving me the flight information to go to a cold and wet Portland toget my guide dog.  As I finished the final preparations and packing, I wasnervous and worried how this would all play out.  Amanda, mydaughter, was only months from graduating high school and I needed to finda new way to get around.  How would he fit into my office life? Would Istill be working? What and where life would take me in these last 2 years hasbeen remarkable and totally unthought of at that time. I took a plane flightacross the US changing planes several times – it would be the last time I wouldbe so scared to travel alone.  It was 2 years ago today that I metApex for the very 1st time.  His birth date is the same as my kitten’s, andhe was the tall, dark and handsome man I prayed for since I was in high school(so… he came on 4 legs instead of 2 – I had to compromise somewhere – haha).He and I hit it off within minutes and we have been unstoppable ever since. He does not mind shopping as long as lunch is included and he loves to traveland see many new faces and places. As I type this, he lays next to me sleeping(and snoring) in the warm Florida afternoon sun.
I have traveled all over (Eastern Caribbean/Bahamas/Virgin Islands/ Massachusetts/Connecticut/Vermont/Florida/Texas/Georgia just to name afew) with my tall, dark and handsome guiding my footsteps, we watched asAmanda graduated high school and we partied the night away (I had earned it !),we worked several full military honor funerals with out a flinch from my guideduring the honor gun salutes, we tackled and attended a movie premier (Lettersto God– it was filmed at my office just before I got Apex), we survived 2long endless months with dad in CCU/ICU/PCU and then his death and funeral, wegot caught in the October snow/ice storm in the northeast, and we stillcontinue to work, travel and shop on our own.  We have found anew church home and attend every chance we can.  I still remainindependent although my brother refuses to let me mow the yard, fix theplumbing, or hang pictures (things blind folks don’t do so well at anyway).
We (Apex and I) are currentlyplanning more trips: to the Caribbean in early 2013, another to go skiingin Utah in the fall of 2012, and then I am starting the process ofplanning my dream trip to Alaska to see the Arura Borelis and Hawaiito see the volcano and black beaches (both states are on my bucketlist and I can not believe they will actually become reality in the summer/fallof 2013) as well as a trip, or two, to see family and friends all acrossthis land.  Laying down my drivers license was very hard as I thought itwould be the end of my working and traveling days but instead God traded me -my driving a car for my wonderful guide dog. 
Apex has truly lived up to the meaning of hisname and been the pinnacle of my life even thru the health scares we haveboth endured.  Two and a half years ago it took me nearly an hour to go 1block with my white cane finding every crack in the sidewalk and more oftenthan not, I sat at home totally frustrated and exhausted by trying to travel orwalk. Yesterday, Apex and I did 2 miles in 30 minutes without thinking aboutit – what a joy to be able to walk like a sighted person again.  Heloves children and so I am getting back into working with them more andmore.  He also loves to entertain the crowd while I (attempt to) sing, soI am once again beginning to sing on stage ( I always hated being taken and ledlike a small child so I stopped singing when I started loosing myvision.).  I also have begun pursuing things that interest Sue as I beginto enjoy the “empty nest” now that Amanda has moved out.  It isamazing how much less house cleaning there is to do when there are no childrenaround…humm  (I had forgotten that part of being single…)
Thank you all for your prayers and emotionalsupport over these last 2 wonderful and event filled years and continue to prayfor us as I have no intentions of slowing down anytime soon. Who knows- you maysee me at your door or even hear me as I go by.  God truly does give usriches beyond measure and often more than we can think of.
Celebrate today – it is all we know we have -tomorrow is simply hoped for and yesterday was.  
on our Happy “Puppy Day” 
Sue and Guide Apex